Thursday, September 15, 2011


LITERATURE ASSIGNMENT NUMBER 2

Have you ever been betrayed? Give an example of when you were betrayed? How did you feel? What did you do?
          About five years ago Joanne was in 1st form, meeting new friend n still talking to the recent ones. Joanne thought it was all good between her and her friends, she told them everything and trusted them, she also thought that nothing could ruin that. But one day coming close to youth rally the principle decided to make all the 1st and 3rd formers match without asking permission. So Joanne and her friend goes to the practices, but in her mind she know that she not going to match on the day of the event, so while all her friends complaining she just smile to herself. Before the day of the event Joanne decided to tell the principle that she can’t make it to youth rally because she get terrible headaches when she stay in the sun for long (which was a lie :0) and the principle excuse her for that day, she also told one of her trusted friends about it. Happily Joanne went to town on the day but tried not to make anyone see her from school. Next day at school the principle was saying all who didn’t go to the match is going to get six blows, but to Joanne she know that she gave her excuse and make sure no one from school saw her, so she thought to herself that all was good. Until she heard her name called out saying ‘go to the office” shocked and scared she took her time to go to the office. When she reach she notice that the principle called her by herself , while the others had go in together and more was still behind her. She slowly enters the office and tried to smile. The principle told her to take a sit and in her mind she was wondering what is going on. The principle told her that why she say that she couldn’t stay in the sun for long and she was in town, so Joanne quickly jump up and say ‘who told you that miss?” the principle sat there and didn’t say nothing, she just sat and observe Joanne. ‘Miss I told you the truth, yes I went town but I had an umbrella and I also keep out of the sun”. Luckily the principle believed her but left her with a warning saying ‘choose your friends wisely’. Joanne felt betrayed by her friends because she found out that is one of her close friend told the principle that she saw her in town. Joanne reaction was to slap down the girl but she came to her senses and promise herself that she would pick her friends wisely and know who to trust and who no to. (TEARS).

Have you ever been betrayed and in the end misunderstood the information?

There was a time in my life when everything went all wrong, I felt hurt, depressed and betrayed. It was a day when I and my friends were in my room; let’s say their names was lisette and Rena. We were all good friends but me and Lisette was closer than how we were with Rena. That day in my room Rena and I had a disagreement and stop talk. Now since me and lisette was closer than Rena I thought she would of have my back and know that Rena was wrong in the conflict and stop talking to Rena also. But everyday at school Rena and lisette would be texting each other and in my mind I know they were bad talking me. So I developed and attitude towards lisette and eventually I stop talking to her to, because I felt betrayed knowing we was friends and doing that in front my face wasn’t nice, I expected her to be my side since we were the closest of friends. but to my knowing lisette was actually confronting Rena telling her that she was wrong for what she say and since we are all friends we should not be fighting. Then is when I realize that I misunderstood the situation and lisette was actually a good friend and I was wrong for doubting her so I apologies and everything was back to normal.



LOOK AT  VARIOUS SHAKESPEARE PLAYS OVER THE YEARS THAT YOU HAVE STUDIED. DO YOU NOTICE THAT CHARACTERS IN THE TEXT ALWAYS SEEMS TO RESORT TO VIOLENCE, TRICKERY OR EVILNESS? COMMENT.

Various Shakespear  plays that I have studied over the years are 1. Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing.
          Merchant of Venice:  The conflict between Shylock and the Christian characters comes to a head over the issue of mercy. The other characters acknowledge that the law is on Shylock’s side, but they all expect him to show mercy, which he refuses to do. When, during the trial, Shylock asks Portia what could possibly compel him to be merciful, Portia’s long reply, beginning with the words, “The quality of mercy is not strained,” clarifies what is at stake in the argument (IV.i.179). Human beings should be merciful because God is merciful: mercy is an attribute of God himself and therefore greater than power, majesty, or law. Portia’s understanding of mercy is based on the way Christians in Shakespeare’s time understood the difference between the Old and New Testaments. According to the writings of St. Paul in the New Testament, the Old Testament depicts God as requiring strict adherence to rules and exacting harsh punishments for those who stray. The New Testament, in contrast, emphasizes adherence to the spirit rather than the letter of the law, portraying a God who forgives rather than punishes and offers salvation to those followers who forgive others. Thus, when Portia warns Shylock against pursuing the law without regard for mercy, she is promoting what Elizabethan Christians would have seen as a pro-Christian, anti-Jewish agenda.
Above paragraph signify the trickery and evilness that Shakespeare writes in his play. The trickery is display when Shylock make Antonio into signing a contract that if he didn’t pay the amount that her borrowed by a specific date he could take a pound of flesh from him, which is trickery because Shylock wanted Antonio dead because of the shame he went though when he was younger, he knew that Antonio couldn’t  pay the money in time so that was his way of killing him by law. Which also is evil because he did it of selfishness and hatred.
 Romeo and Juliet: The play opens with the servants of the Montague and Capulet families quarreling and fighting in the streets of Verona, Italy. The two families have been enemies for as long as anyone can remember. Romeo, son of Lord Montague, accidentally finds out about a ball given by Lord Capulet and plans to attend uninvited. Romeo and his friends Mercutio and Benvolio put on masks and attend the ball, where Romeo meets the beautiful Juliet and falls instantly in love. Later that night Romeo goes to Juliet’s balcony, and they exchange vows of love. Romeo enlists the help of Friar Laurence, who agrees to marry the young lovers in hopes of ending the long-standing feud between the two families.
Romeo returns from his wedding and finds that his friend Mercutio is engaged in combat with Tybalt, a member of the Capulet family. Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, enraged over his friend’s death, then slays Tybalt. Romeo immediately realizes that he has murdered his wife’s cousin and flees to Friar Laurence for help. Romeo then realize that his wife had died. ( which was a trick)
Above paragraphs explain the trickery and violence in Shakespeare’s plays. The priest gave Juliet a something to make her seems dead to people so that she and Romeo could be together, it was to trick her parents but some how go wrong in the process causing Romeo and Juliet to die. The violence was with Tybalt Juliet’s cousin and Romeo. Where Romeo killed Tybalt in rage and revenge of his friend death.
Much Ado About Nothing: Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a "merry war"; they both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. By means of "noting" (which sounds the same as "nothing," and which is gossip, rumour, and overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar. However, Dogberry, a Constable who is a master of malapropisms, discovers the evil trickery of the villain, the bastard Don John. In the end, Don John is captured and everyone else joins in a dance celebrating the marriages of the two couples.
Above paragraph talks about the trickery of Shakespeare play and how it was carried out by each character in their own ways.

What is Elizabeth theatre historical bachgroung? Picture of the Global theatre.
Accordingly in 1576 Shakespeare built the theatre in Shoreditch, at that time a surburb of London. The experience was successful, and by 1592 there were two more playhouse in London.
Elizabethan players were accustomed to act on a variety of stages; in the great hall of a nobleman's house, or one of Queen's palaces in town hall and in yard, as well as their own theatre. The public playhouse for which most of Shakespeare's plays were written was a small intimate affair. The outside measurement of the fortune Theatre, which was built in 1600 was but 80 feet square.


Elizabethan theatre and the name of William Shakespeare are inextricably bound together, yet there were others writing plays at the same time as the bard of Avon. One of the most successful was Christopher Marlowe, who many contemporaries considered Shakespeare's superior. Marlowe's career, however, was cut short at a comparatively young age when he died in a tavern fight in Deptford, the victim of a knife in the eye.
 picture of Global Theatre:

 

Synopsis of William Shakespeare? Life, work, plays he has written, tragedies, history, comedies and the time period that they were written in.

William Shakespeare was born at Stratford upon Aron in April, 1564. He was the third child, and eldest son, of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. His father was one of the most prosperous man of Stratford, who held in turn the chief offices in the town. His mother was of a gentle birth, the daughter of Robert Arden of Wilmocote. In December 1582, he married Ann Hathaway, daughter of a farmer of Shottery. Their first child Susanna was baptized on May 6, 1583, and twins Hamnet and Judith on February 22, 1585.
   Not much is known of Shakespeare's childhood; but its likely that a writer who dramatized such an incomparable range and variety of human  kinds and experience should have spent his early  manhood entirely in placed pursuits in a country town. The name of the theater was called Globe theatre.
    In 1592 Robert Greene, the best known of the professional writers, as he was dying wrote a letter to three fellow writes in which he warned them against the ingratitude of players i n general, and in particular against '' up start crowl'' who ''supposes he is as much able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you'': This is the first reference to Shakespeare, and the whole passage suggest that he had become suddenly famous as a play wright. At that time Shakespeare was brought into touch with Edward Alleyne the great tragedian, and Christopher Marlowe, whose thundering part of Tamburlaine, and Dr. Faustus Alleyne was acting, as well as Hieronimo, the hero of Kyd's spanish  tragedy, the most famous of all Elizabethan plays.
     By the summer of 1598, Shakespeare was recognized as the greatest of English Dramatists. Booksellers were printing his more popular plays, at times even in piraled or stolen version, and he received a remarkable tribute from a young writer named Francis Meres. In a long eatalogue of English authors Meres gave Shakespeare more prominence  them any other write and mentioned by name twelve  of his plus. His son Hamnet died in 1596, Shakespeare died at stratford upon Avon on April 23, 1616 and was burried in the Chancel of the church, before the high altar. Shortly afterward a memorial which still exists, with a portrait bust, was set up on the North Wall. His wife survived him.
Comedies
: Shakespearean comedy
 Histories
: Shakespearean history

Tragedies
: Shakespearean tragedy
What is the theatre of the absurd? Pictures.
The Theatre of the Absurd  (French:Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a theatrical style originating in France in the late 1940's. It relies heavily on existential philosophy, and is a category for plays  of  absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940s to the 1960s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and as its ultimate conclusion, silence. The origins of the Theatre of the Absurd are rooted in the avant-garde experiments in art of the 1920s and 1930s. At the same time, it was undoubtedly strongly influenced by the traumatic experience of the horrors of the Second World War, which showed the total impermanence of any values, shook the validity of any conventions and highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental meaninglessness and arbitrariness. The trauma of living from 1945 under threat of nuclear annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of the new theatre.
At the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd also seems to have been a reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimension form contemporary life. The Absurd Theatre can be seen as an attempt to restore the importance of myth and ritual to our age, by making man aware of the ultimate realities of his condition, by instilling in him again the lost sense of cosmic wonder and primeval anguish. The Absurd Theatre hopes to achieve this by shocking man out of an existence that has become trite, mechanical and complacent. It is felt that there is mystical experience in confronting the limits of human condition.
picture of the Theatre ofbThe Absurd:
 

Look at the background of the text Winter’s Tale. What is going on historically in the era that the book is writtem in.
“The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W. Lawrence,consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending” Scholars concur that The Winter's Tale was written in 1610 or early 1611 and that its earliest known performance was at the Globe Theatre on May 15th, 1611. Historians know that the play, a romance, was performed in 1613 as part of Princess Elizabeth's marriage celebrations, and that Shakespeare’s main source for the play was Robert Green’s Pandosto (1588). From its inception the play has attracted critical attention, although there is little or no consensus about its quality or theme. Many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scholars found the play implausible, faulting Leontes's irrational rage and jealousy, the unaccounted sixteen year gap in the plot, and factual inaccuracies such as the mixing of time periods and the reference to a coastline in landlocked Bohemia. Today, scholars agree that the characteristics of the play typify the final period of Shakespeare's writing. However, instead of maintaining that this period represents a decline in Shakespeare's skill, many critics have reexamined the opinion that Shakespeare's final plays are morose and disjointed. Some critics now argue that Shakespeare was at his most innovative during his final period, creating new forms and perfecting themes that had shadowed him throughout his career. As this period has been redefined and gained greater appreciation, literary critics have applied these more positive views to The Winter's Tale. In addition, literary scholars have applied new concepts about feminism and emerging historical theories to The Winter's Tale in order to gain a better understanding of the play.
Nevertheless, the play has been intermittently pShakespearean performance historyopular, revived in productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in, beginning after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation called Florizel and Perdita (first performed in 1754 and published in 1756. The Winter's Tale was revived again in the 19th century, when the third "pastoral" act was widely popular). In the second half of the 20th century The Winter's Tale in its entirety, and drawn largely from the First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success.
.The action takes place in Sicily (or Sicilia) and Bohemia. Sicily is a large island west of the toe of Italy's boot. Bohemia was a kingdom within the boundaries of the present-day Czech republic, between present-day Poland on the north and Austria on the south. In ancient times, a Celtic people called the Boii settled the land that became Bohemia. In The Winter's Tale, Bohemia has a coastline along which ships arrive and debark. In real life, Bohemia was a landlocked region; it was entirely surrounded by terra firma. Shakespeare may have been a magnificent writer, but he was no geographer.
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